Principles of Quantitative Development

4.9 SUMMARY

Big Picture 4.3: Big Picture and Narrow Perspectives

The trading platform is a system that brings multiple domains of expertise together. It calls for specialized knowledge in computing, finance and business processes, problem solving and so on. As quantitative developers are the professionals closest to the trading world, their need to embrace a Big Picture view is the greatest. Other professionals may entertain narrow perspectives and may still be effective, though with stunted advancement prospects.

Most quants, especially at junior levels, despise the Big Picture. They think of it as a distraction from their real work of marrying stochastic calculus to C++. All traders, however, will agree that the best model in the world is worthless unless it can be deployed. Deployment is the fast track to the Big Picture – There is no point in denying it. Besides, in an increasingly interconnected world where a crazy French man's actions instantly affect our bonus, what is the use of denying the existence of the Big Picture in our neck of the woods? Instead, let us take advantage of the Big Picture to empower ourselves.

When we change our narrow, albeit effective, focus on the work at hand to an understanding of our role and value in the organization, we will see the potential points of failure of the systems and processes. We will be prepared with possible solutions to the nightmarish havoc that computerized processes can wreak.

A trading platform finds its users primarily ...